I personally love everything about Deadtime Stories. But I can understand the head-scratching with shift in tone from the previous stories to Goldilock's more over-the-top comedic tone (feels more like it belongs in an earlier in-house Troma comedy) but that's ones definitely grown on me with repeat viewings and plays a lot funnier too.

Click to expand...

I wish I had reacted better to it. I was borderline bored. It's been on my "list" forever but it was pretty forgettable.

On the plus side, it looked great for what it is and I appreciated that Melissa Leo sat for interview.

As I predicted, from the trailers, it was all about the ghosts and the gadgets and the pretty colors. The 116 minutes (just shy of 2 hours) flew by. None of the cast stood out, though. I expected them to. Everyone raved about Kate McKinnon and... ehhhh. She spent most of the movie eyeing Kristen Wiig. Who did the same thing to Chris Hemsworth. But, no romance. Which is fine. Well... except for Slimer. Who was ugly as shit. (Thank GOD he didn't stay.) I laughed more than I expected. You know: for how awful this film was "supposed" to be and everything.

Stay Puft 2016 was awesome. But, so was the evil version of the 1984 Ghostbusters' logo. And the evil Uncle Sam with the ultra-long legs.

Extremely entertaining film. Only part of me wishes there'd be a sequel. Only because I want more ghosts. And for them to be a bit scarier.

Not exactly sure how thinking about the Ghostbusters remake got me to watching The Brady Bunch Movie again... but, somehow it did. Some critics called it a "one joke" movie, and that that joke was "gee, look at how clueless the 70's Brady's are in the 90's; they don't fit in here at all." That definitely isn't true. It has that joke, sure. But it also has the sitcom jokes ("Cindy's a tattletale," "Peter's voice is changing," "Marcia brushes her hair a lot," "Greg still sleeps on Scooby Doo bed sheets") - which are so absurdly out of place that if the punchline was that they weren't even funny on the show, that isn't funny either - and character interaction jokes. That last one is where the movie's actual clever/funny exists. Jan and Marcia's rivalry being so ludicrous that it works its way into her dreams/nightmares, Jan battles with her subconscious voice in the form of multiple personalities, Marcia and her clearly gay friend Noreen have a genuinely odd, oddly progressive bit of would-be going back and forth, Mr. Dittmeyer and Mike or Cindy and a horrendous streak of bad luck, Mrs. Dittmeyer and booze mixers and any available young man (available in the local sense, not the single sense).

This was one of my favorite movies as a teenager. But I obviously wanted it to be better than it was. The character interaction jokes might be great, and the 90's lampooning / pastiche/motifing hasn't dulled in the slightest, but the majority of the film is really the sitcom jokes which act as downright lame when not terrible padding and fairly nowhere character-plot follow-through. Does anyone care if Peter and Holly get together, especially since Peter is just the next Charlie (who runs away like a scared puppy when he gets a boner)? (Okay, I get that Peter's Elvis-like voice change is almost like making him into the Charlie who doesn't turncoat now that he's "maturing" and has a chance with a girl. But this isn't, even for this movie, epic or extraordinary romance material. It's a recurring theme that doesn't go anywhere.) Is anyone impressed by Greg suddenly becoming the chick-magnet rockstar he always wanted to be... since the week previous? Jan gets no real resolution. Nor does Bobby. And the whole movie is lacking a focused satirical edge to smooth out the lame bumps in bad jokes and non-committal character plotting.

I was rooting for it to be good a) because I like Ghostbusters and b) because I really found the anti-female cast backlash (and Leslie Jones attacks) to be just awful.

I did not think it was good though, even though I like all the talent involved.

Click to expand...

It was an imbalanced movie. It had no real characters or a story to anchor it. But it had a formula nevertheless, it had ideas on how to fill the screentime and screen space and it tightly packed that into its editing format and the running time. I dunno; thank stuff like Jem and the Holograms for setting the bar so low.

I don't believe in forcing a movie to be what it's not supposed to be. And, I hate to tow the party line in any case, but I guess the board really has a point- some movies are just for the pops of corn and fleeting momentary enjoyment. But... you know what? I already want to watch it again. (I watched it like 3 and a half days ago.) Which, again (I hope I made this clear in my previous post), is more than I can say for the Goosebumps movie. I too wish that this movie had been great and what this was, Goosebumps had been. This movie was fun, Goosebumps felt like I was there just to analyze. (I'd say the same for Jem but I never wasted my time on that disaster. Though, if it ever comes to Netflix or Amazon Prime streaming, I'll watch a bit of it.)

Did you ever see Disney's Bride of Boogedy? It's insane, but the scene where we discover the villain's motive reminds me A LOOOOT of Eugene Levy's character in that film. Especially when he gets the magic cloak and goes power mad before Boogedy comes back and starts tearing the carnival apart.

As I predicted, from the trailers, it was all about the ghosts and the gadgets and the pretty colors. The 116 minutes (just shy of 2 hours) flew by. None of the cast stood out, though. I expected them to. Everyone raved about Kate McKinnon and... ehhhh. She spent most of the movie eyeing Kristen Wiig. Who did the same thing to Chris Hemsworth. But, no romance. Which is fine. Well... except for Slimer. Who was ugly as shit. (Thank GOD he didn't stay.) I laughed more than I expected. You know: for how awful this film was "supposed" to be and everything.

Stay Puft 2016 was awesome. But, so was the evil version of the 1984 Ghostbusters' logo. And the evil Uncle Sam with the ultra-long legs.

Extremely entertaining film. Only part of me wishes there'd be a sequel. Only because I want more ghosts. And for them to be a bit scarier.

Click to expand...

This movie got so much hate for the wrong reasons before it was even released. Of course it's no where near the classic original Ghostbusters. And I can't remember the second Ghostbusters that much. I think it was ok. Not as good as the original. This new one is odd. It has some funny moments. The new Ghostbusters are funny. I think I'll write up a small review when I get a chance as I used to post reviews of horror movies I watched on the Horror.com Forum until that went down. I only post reviews here in October. At least I can't remember checking this topic that often.

This movie got so much hate for the wrong reasons before it was even released. Of course it's no where near the classic original Ghostbusters. And I can't remember the second Ghostbusters that much. I think it was ok. Not as good as the original.

Click to expand...

Compete agreement. Though I have that kind of attachment to the original where I'll forgive all its flaws. Sort of like The Worst Witch, I love it so much that I want to marry its soundtrack.

Anyway... (watched another movie)

It's been a long time and, of course, this one never fails to entertain. It's pretty plastic though, you have to admit. It was never really real. The American-80's resented reality something fierce. Gee, I wonder why (Reagan, Bush, Quayle, the religious right, moral majority, the drug war, crooked cops, white supremacy). I also don't think it has a lot to say that has been relevant to time as it passes. Its observations about popularity and peer pressure had an expiration date. Especially as our new Trump America comes ever closer to saying "Fuck you, Public School" and forcing your tax dollars to pay for private schooling where students are taught creationism and heteronormative, conservative values. To ensure the next generation are even more racist, sexist, and queer-phobic than the ones that got us gay marriage, affirmative action, resentment of the upper class, etc. Watching this today is as surreal as it was watching it for the first time in the 90's when Daria taught us that you don't really change when you become your parents. More like: you don't change at all. High school is the whole world. The cliques. The system of social oppression that punishes independent thought and pressures outcasts into either conformity or silence, they continue well beyond graduation.

I laud this film's optimism and compassion. But, clearly, it never had a chance.

I actually enjoy this more than the first, although you have to have seen the first to fully enjoy I think. No main character. No real plot. Lots of 80s nonsense but then once it gets rolling it's ridiculous: demons, fire, axes, kid zombies, elevator shaft chases, ghoulies (kind of), gymnastic demon leaps, 80s dance parties, 80s shirtless gym workouts. And The Cure, The Cult, Peter Murphy, Dead Can Dance, etc.

Compete agreement. Though I have that kind of attachment to the original where I'll forgive all its flaws. Sort of like The Worst Witch, I love it so much that I want to marry its soundtrack.

Anyway... (watched another movie)

It's been a long time and, of course, this one never fails to entertain. It's pretty plastic though, you have to admit. It was never really real. The American-80's resented reality something fierce. Gee, I wonder why (Reagan, Bush, Quayle, the religious right, moral majority, the drug war, crooked cops, white supremacy). I also don't think it has a lot to say that has been relevant to time as it passes. Its observations about popularity and peer pressure had an expiration date. Especially as our new Trump America comes ever closer to saying "Fuck you, Public School" and forcing your tax dollars to pay for private schooling where students are taught creationism and heteronormative, conservative values. To ensure the next generation are even more racist, sexist, and queer-phobic than the ones that got us gay marriage, affirmative action, resentment of the upper class, etc. Watching this today is as surreal as it was watching it for the first time in the 90's when Daria taught us that you don't really change when you become your parents. More like: you don't change at all. High school is the whole world. The cliques. The system of social oppression that punishes independent thought and pressures outcasts into either conformity or silence, they continue well beyond graduation.

I laud this film's optimism and compassion. But, clearly, it never had a chance.

Click to expand...

I saw the original Ghostbusters in theaters when I was a kid. Loved it. Still do. I recall purchasing the record after watching the movie. It's a perfect movie to me. I played the old game I think on Commodore 64 and the old Apple computers. The Sega Genesis one is really good too.

I'm going to get my review going soon. But I think they didn't get dark enough in the reboot. It was too much comedy. Too 80s. I saw the theatrical version and I knew from one moment that they were doing a Michael Jackson Thriller bit and I was glad that was cut.

Certain times are kind of funny though. Maybe it's like this for all people. But when you live through an age. You, or at least I, didn't think of it like in the movies or TV shows. It was just life back then. Like the 80s and that Breakfast Club shot. And Molly Ringwald was one of the prettiest girls back then. I still need to check out her jazz album.

I had remembered liking this more. But it's got no character to be attached to, and is a patchwork of other (better) possession films. It's just a lot of people saying "Dimitri!" And Richard Johnson yelling "the child must be born!". Aimless, often boring... But well shot.

Let's try this. Usually I post quick reviews on the Horror.com Forum but that's down again. And this topic doesn't seem to get anywhere near the attention of the October horror movie watching topic. These are the recent horror movies I watched over the last month or so. I finally sat down and watched It Follows and it didn't disappoint. Also The Conjuring series was a nice surprise. On to the reviews:

(Reviewed in the order I watched them)

The Conjuring -

I'm late to this one but I was surprised by The Conjuring. I think it's one of the most well made modern horror movies I've seen. For those who haven't seen it, I'll try not to spoil it as from the title alone, I didn't know what kind of horror movie it was going to be. I only vaguely heard of the spinoff called Annabelle and thought that The Conjuring would involve her.

The movie breaks almost every single stupid thing that happens in horror movies rule which I thought was cool. Right at the beginning a character states "you did what?" in almost shock at the stupidity of another character. Also, we also get reasons for why characters are doing stuff that would seem dumb in lesser movies. The only thing I wasn't fond of was a trope that happens in animated movies with a certain character. That was the one thing that could have been left out or rewritten somehow. But this is a really good horror movie. I like the hero couple as well.

The Cabining -

I watched this because it was about a couple guys writing a horror movie and I'm still sitting on a few horror movie projects myself. Plus the trailer was ok. I thought it might be worth watching after noticing a few cute actresses too. But it really felt amateurish with High School or College type acting at times and almost home movie framing. There were few good shots in the movie. I thought only the actress who played a foreign type was good. Apparently she even did the vocals for the credits song. I usually like stuff like that when a performer does more than just act in a movie. But other than that, you won't miss anything by passing on this movie.

It Follows -

For It Follows I had my few drinks before watching and was paranoid as hell during and after the movie. This is the real deal. It shows what a piece of crap something like The Cabining is. It Follows is worth the hype. It's very close to the original Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street, and the feel of Friday the 13th movies. The director is a guy who obviously loves those classic horror movies and made his own version instead of going the bad remake route.

It Follows made me debate if I even want to make that ultimate Friday the 13th project that I've been working on. I did have some issues with the movie but then I thought about it some more and realized something.

At first I was a bit disappointed in the ending. The final result at the swimming pool and lack of reveal of the creature. I saved some article links before seeing the movie, one in particular from Tarantino as I was curious what he thought. But then I think I concluded something that I haven't seen posted around the Internet. At least not yet. Even though the movie is almost the ultimate slasher in that if you have sex you will die. The creature itself isn't in the mold of a Jason, Myers, or Freddy but is more like The Thing. What we see in the swimming pool is the real form of the creature.

It's too bad this movie didn't make more money. It deserved to be promoted far more than all the recent horror remakes. But this is a classic horror movie not to be missed.

Girl House -

This movie is a mess. I thought going from the trailer which I watched some time ago that it would be good. But it pretty much gives a reason to hate the shallow, show off, manipulative girls right from the beginning. The movie almost shows a hatred of them with the vicious death scenes. Especially the origin kill and one with a sex object. They just took the whole girls stripping on the Internet for money, added a killer complete with origin story, fairly good cinematography, pretty girls, and threw together a movie. I really didn't care for it at all.

Why Horror -

This is a horror documentary. There are a few of these on Starz. Just an interesting talk about horror movies and why people watch them. It won't do horror fans any harm to check this one out.

The Conjuring 2 -

This is a good sequel. I like that if you are paying attention there is stuff going on the in the background. However the basement of one house seemed like too much of a horror set. I can't imagine someone's basement really looking like that. I would think a city or town would condemn the house if that was beneath it. But other than that the couple from the original are the stars again. They are just a cool horror team and you care about them and their investigations.

The Darkness -

I thought this was going to be good. It has Radha Mitchell from Silent Hill and in many ways it seemed like she was playing a similar character. Also Kevin Bacon so I figured it couldn't be that bad. And it does start off ok when they are in the mountains. But then it just starts to feel generic and thrown together as a quick buck type horror movie.

Within -

Another waste of time "horror" movie apparently ripped from the headlines. It's not really believable as without spoiling it, the monster in this movie comes off like one of the more popular X-Files monsters. And the twist is so obvious you can't really call it a twist. In many ways, this could be similar to the remake of When a Stranger Calls as the movie basically focuses on the daughter character. But there isn't anything interesting about the sets or character to make this a passable horror movie. And I hated the ending.

Bait -

I was waiting to watch this in 3D but as there was nothing else on I just watched it normally. I guess there is nothing really special about this movie though except the 3D gimmick with the shark. Another ripped from the headlines horror movie with the focus on people trapped in a supermarket while a shark swims around due to something that happens with the environment.

Hellraiser: Revelations -

Easily the worst in the series. And the guy who wrote this is writing and directing the next one. Which is a really bad sign. The whole thing feels direct to video and low budget. I believe I read here that the studio makes these quick sometimes to keep the rights. And this one is obvious. Also Pinhead is played by a different actor in this one. One thing you can say about the other bad Hellraiser movies is that at least Pinhead is consistent.

Purge Election Day -

I'm part of the problem watching these Purge movies. I guess the first one had a good story pitch to get made. But it didn't go into discussion on the real effects of the Purge. And it's been like that ever since. Some commentary at the opening then violence. At least this should be the last one.

As much as I really enjoyed re-watching P-tasm I-IV, I really felt like Ravager was a fairly unsatisfying end to the series. Part I is great as a stand alone but II - IV always felt like fun but incomplete experiences. Dream-like, yes, but never pushing forward the overall character arcs or narrative development that much from film to film. IV ended with a note that we might see some resolution but Ravager just seems to muddy up the waters, drop in a cameo at the end, then walk away. I can live with some of the weak CG and all that but after all these years, but with Scrimm getting on in age, seemed like you could have given the series something more definitive in terms of an ending.

After years of walking around this Earth, ears deep in my own butt hole, I finally sat down and watched the original Phantasm. I bought the semi recent release of the "remastered" blu ray/dvd combo. So I had a choice...... watch the blu ray on my tv........ or toss in the dvd and watch it on 100 inches of pure projection glory. After contemplating for a second, I realized the answer was easy. DVD on the projector, son. And it was brilliant. Had an absolute blast. Just a trippy nightmare of a picture. Quite certain there's nothing I can add that hasn't already been understood for years now........ Looking forward to watching in HD, as well as catching some sequels in the not so distant future.

Watched this for the first time the other day (blu ray). I had mixed emotions but overall it was very entertaining. Some of the acting was beyond atrocious. Even worse were some of the decisions made. Ah, hey bud......how bout dialing 911 instead of calling the Sheriff? You know, since he's already pissed at you. I get you're out in the country but even the most rural of areas, if you dial 911 and tell them you just found a dead body, SOMEONE will show up.

Also had a good laugh at one of the college buildings. There are a few scenes in this one structure in particular.......it looks like a fucking crack house. I get budget restraints, but how much does a gallon of white paint cost at the friggin hardware store? There's a girl sitting in a hall way studying.....and if she wasn't wearing nice clothing you would have thought she was a squatter finding shelter in an abandoned trap house, south side of Chicago. I was cracking up.

Also, the killer is one of the most unoriginal characters in the history of the genre. He's Michael Myers without the mask or jump suit. Just a normal looking guy in his 40s, wearing jeans, a normal shirt, and sporting a nice little hair cut. LOL another aspect I laughed out loud at was the fact there were moments where the killer walked almost at the identical pace of Michael Myers......then he'll switch it up a bit and pick up the pace with a power walk/jog........ THEN he'd switch it up again and walk literally as slow as a human being could......so slow it barely constitutes movement.

I have to mention the music as well. I laughed at it several times. It's like they came to the conclusion they were obviously ripping off Halloween......so they told themselves, at LEAST let's change up the score a FRACTION. It's almost the same, but they added some upbeat notes and the result is something out of a 70s soap opera. The end credits especially.

I'm not disappointed in my blind buy purchase. There's enough cheese and crappy dialog that kept me entertained throughout the talk heavy stretches of the running time. The last 10 minutes or so are awesome.

Found footage flick from 2015. Never heard of it but gave it a chance on Amazon prime. I was surprised how much I really enjoyed it. Couple of creepy moments, never really dragged. The acting was passable which was a pleasant surprise given the obvious low budget. Nothing ground breaking but I think it deserves some praise and if you got prime it's definitely worth your time.

This DVD came as a bonus with my Dorado Films Franco Double Feature Blu. Part Danger Diabolik, Part James Bond, Part Superhero film, all cheap. It's dreadfully unfunny and uncharming and a weird artifact of a bygone era. Painfully misogynist (not aggressively so, just what it was back then) Very watchable but not at all my thing. What an oddball movie. Worth a spin if you did kitsch factor in films.

Caught this for the first time. I really enjoyed the majority of it. I liked the fact it was aware of itself and even mentioned the Michael Douglas film The Game, as it pretty much has the exact same premise. But it's been a while since I hated an ending so much.

so I knew the Ham from the Sandlot really wasn't dead. It was pretty obvious. But what a lazy fucking ending from a writing standpoint, am I right? What the fuck? They just kill all 4 of them? The fuck was the point of the game then? Money? Help my fuck, seems like you got the murder game down.....figure the robbery game would be easier than that shit, no? Why even bother with all that nonsense if you plan on just killing them all anyways? I thought it was a really lazy and piss poor way to end an otherwise really entertaining and fun movie.